


Recursion

by nightcalling



Series: A Storm Gives Way to a Sunny Day [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Season/Series 03 AU, Scars, Season/Series 03 Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-10
Updated: 2019-07-10
Packaged: 2020-06-25 12:16:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19745602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nightcalling/pseuds/nightcalling
Summary: Steve takes this as a cue for him to leave the room, but he stops short when a wave of uncertainty hits and spreads through him. He felt the same thing that day watching Billy battle the Mind Flayer in Starcourt, a waft of unease that settled in his stomach from seeing Billy so vulnerable and exposed despite holding so much power. He’s not sure why he’s feeling it now until he notices the tautness in Billy’s shoulders, the trembling in Billy’s hands.





	Recursion

**Author's Note:**

> Season 3 ending AU based on the idea I saw online of Billy inheriting El’s powers somehow. Why does it happen? Because [insert vague handwave-y gestures here]. For this AU, Billy and Hopper are alive, El is still living with Hopper, and the Byers don’t move away (although this last point doesn’t matter for this story). There are some descriptions of bodily scars/marks (nothing graphic or bloody), but if that’s not your thing please turn back! Not beta-ed so all mistakes are my own.

El is down on the ground and Billy is standing with his arms stretched out, somehow keeping the Mind Flayer away without making actual contact. From the look in his eyes, Steve guesses Billy doesn’t really know what he’s doing either.

Billy’s left foot stumbles. Steve’s not sure what comes over him in that moment, but the next thing he knows, he’s running up behind Billy and holding him firm by the shoulders.

“Plant your feet!” Steve yells over the Mind Flayer’s screeching.

Billy starts, then smiles in what is probably the first time since this whole fiasco began. “Am I dreaming or is that you, Harrington?”

“Yeah, it’s me.” Steve grins despite himself. “Kick this thing’s ass so we can get the hell out of here.”

\---

After being discharged from the hospital a month later, Billy moves out into his own place with Max in tow. Steve decides to go over on the weekend and help them unpack, and Robin gives him a look when he mentions having to switch shifts with her at the video store for this.

“El and Max asked me to,” Steve says, completely honest, not sure why he feels compelled to justify himself.

“Uh huh,” Robin says, slurping on her iced coke as they walk into their Friday night showing of _Fright Night_. “Just give me all the details on Monday.”

Steve throws a handful of popcorn at her as they sit down for the previews.

On early Sunday morning, Steve gets in his car and begins the forty-minute drive down to Billy and Max’s place, his palms becoming sweatier as the seconds tick by. Okay, so maybe Robin had a point. El essentially became best friends with Max over the summer, so of course she’d want to be there for her. And whatever El did to break the Mind Flayer’s possession over Billy seemed to form some sort of unspoken understanding between the two. Neither of them has talked about it, and Steve wasn’t going to pry, but he was still curious.

As Steve pulls up the tattered driveway next to Billy’s even more tattered car, which had somehow been salvaged from that night’s fiery wreckage, he winces at the memory of their collision and begins to wonder belatedly whether he should just turn around and drop the whole thing. Maybe say he forgot or that something came up. Max chooses this time to come out of the front door with a garbage bag.

“Are you coming in or what?” Max asks, chucking the bag into the trash bin. “El’s been here for an hour already.”

Steve turns off the engine and follows her inside.

\---

It’s not that awkward once they divvy up the boxes and get into a rhythm. Steve is on kitchenware duty. He chews on a piece of toast that Max offered him and puts the dishes on the dishrack, the utensils in the drawers, and the mugs in the cupboard. He goes slowly because, well, there are only that many items to put away considering there’s just two people living here.

Steve can hear muffled rock coming from a room—Billy’s room, he guesses—on the other side of the small house. It’s more of a tiny, one-story apartment, really, but it’s nice and Steve thinks, _knows_ it probably feels a lot homier than where they moved from, moldy walls and all.

After Steve flattens his share of boxes, he follows the rock music down the sole hallway, past the bathroom and over to Billy’s room, fist hesitating over the door until he knocks twice and turns the doorknob. He’s not sure what he expected to see, but it certainly wasn’t Billy staring at his own reflection in the mirror, shirtless and quiet.

“Hey.”

He can tell he catches Billy off guard from the way he snaps his head up. “Haven’t you heard of knocking,” Billy states, quickly pulling a white tank over his head.

Steve rolls his eyes. “I did.”

Billy looks at him in the mirror then reaches out to turn down the volume of the stereo sitting on his dresser.

Steve closes the door but stays where he is. “You don’t have to do that.”

“I know,” Billy says.

“Not the music. You know that’s not what I—”

“I know,” Billy says again, a little firmer. He opens one of three boxes on his bed—the only boxes he seems to have brought with him—and starts chucking t-shirts and old jeans onto the floor. “What are you doing here?”

Steve eyes the pile of wrinkled clothing. “I came over to help you.”

“That’s nice. That’s what you are now, isn’t it? Nice.” Billy opens a second box and dumps an assortment of hair products onto the bed.

“Don’t be an asshole. I’ll go find Max and El if you don’t want me here.”

Billy hesitates on the third box. He turns the volume of the stereo back up, louder than before.

Steve takes this as a cue for him to leave the room, but he stops short when a wave of uncertainty hits and spreads through him. He felt the same thing that day watching Billy battle the Mind Flayer in Starcourt, a waft of unease that settled in his stomach from seeing Billy so vulnerable and exposed despite holding so much power. He’s not sure why he’s feeling it now until he notices the tautness in Billy’s shoulders, the trembling in Billy’s hands.

Before he can stop himself, Steve walks over to where Billy’s still standing and switches the stereo off from behind him. “I’m not going anywhere,” he says. They’re in the same position as that night, but Steve can’t bring himself to touch Billy like he had.

Billy turns around and kisses Steve, pulling him in by the collar. It ends as quickly as it had started. Billy’s hands are still shaking as he lets go of Steve, who grabs the left shoulder strap of Billy’s tank and keeps him in place. The bottom of the tank rides up, exposing a web of black marks on Billy’s hip. Billy pulls the tank back down without using his hands.

“You don’t have to do that,” Steve repeats softly, looking down. Then, “Do you think they’ll stay?”

A stretch of silence passes. “Your powers,” he adds. When Steve glances back up, Billy is studying him with an intensity that Steve can’t quite decipher.

“Dunno,” Billy finally says. “Does it matter?”

“No,” Steve says. “It doesn’t.” He moves to take off Billy’s tank, and this time Billy lets him.

It’s like a circuit of dendrites extending from the left side of the torso, wrapping behind Billy’s back and stopping just above the pelvis. There’s a fainter patch of marks around the neck that uncurls above the back side of the right jaw. Steve can feel Billy’s eyes still fixed on him, so he returns the gaze.

_It’s like before it’s gonna storm, you know? You can’t see it, but you can feel it._

“Don’t take it too hard,” Steve smiles, taking a gamble. “Pretty boy like you’s got nothing to worry about.”

Billy widens his eyes just a fraction, then he scoffs, shaking his head as a grin takes over his face. “The fuck, Harrington.”

“Like I said,” Steve promises, “I’m not going anywhere.”

\---

“So,” Robin says from behind the counter.

“I literally just got here two seconds ago,” Steve says, taking off his jacket.

“Which is two seconds without information!” Robin throws Steve his nametag. “You good?”

Steve doesn’t have to ask what she means. “Yeah,” he says, flipping over the “Open” sign on the front door. “We’re good.”

**Author's Note:**

> Their romance could have been the stuff of legends :’(


End file.
